A woman who was killed when a Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue helicopter crashed into her Pompano Beach home has been identified.
Lurean Wheaton, 65, died when the helicopter crashed into her apartment Monday, friends and family members said.
Wheaton was originally from South Carolina, but had lived in South Florida for the past 20 years.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
A close friend described her as humble and kind, and said she'd overcome drug addiction and had been sober for more than a decade.
"I didn’t want to admit it, but when I saw the flames from yesterday and the day before, I have been praying. And it was the obvious by coming this morning. It confirmed it. She’s in heaven," friend Michael Varin said. “Lurean was fabulous, she was humble and an underdog."
Wheaton’s niece spoke to NBC6 on the phone about how wonderful her aunt was, and that she visited the family in South Carolina every summer.
Local
“She was the life of the party, she lit up with her smile, she knew how to enjoy her family when she came home and made sure she saw everyone," Angela Williams said.
Williams told NBC6 she last spoke to Wheaton Sunday night. She said the last thing her aunt told her was, “I love you.”
“I had just talked to her Sunday night and she told me to call back Monday. And it was early. I was like, ‘She's probably still asleep,’” said Williams as she recounted not being able to make contact with her the following day. “And around [4:30 p.m.] that Monday, that's when we found out.”
Williams said the coroner in their Anderson, SC community arrived at the family’s home Monday afternoon to deliver the heartbreaking news.
The coroner’s office was alerted to the tragedy by Broward County Investigators.
Williams told NBC6 the family’s now tasked with planning a funeral, all the while waiting Wheaton’s body to be released to her family in South Carolina.
“She's very loved and missed, but she'll always be in our hearts,” Williams said. “A part of her will still live on."
Wheaton had been in her apartment when the helicopter went down around 8:45 a.m. Monday in the area of North Dixie Highway and Atlantic Boulevard.
Three crewmembers were on board the helicopter and were heading to the scene of a vehicle crash when it went down shortly after lifting off.
Cell phone footage from a witness showed smoke and flames coming from the helicopter before it spun around and quickly fell from the sky. The tail of the chopper appeared to be damaged and coming apart as it made its downward spiraling descent.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said the helicopter crew experienced a mechanical issue and put out a distress signal as a fire broke out on board shortly after it was in the air.
Capt. Terryson Jackson, a flight paramedic who was on the helicopter, was also killed. The 50-year-old was a 19-year veteran of the department.
The other two crewmembers - 37-year-old pilot Daron Roche and 31-year-old paramedic Mikael Chaguaceda - were able to crawl to safety after the helicopter crashed.
Two other people who were in the apartment building were injured and hospitalized, along with Roche and Chaguaceda.
The wreckage of the helicopter was removed Tuesday from the Pompano Beach neighborhood where it crashed. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Wheaton's family has started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses.
